She tipped her head back.
Just that. Just let her head fall back on her neck, eyes closing, the pale line of her throat exposed to the cold air above the waterline while the rest of her was wrapped in warmth. Her hair was still braided, the bone beads clicking softly as she moved, and the ochre mark on her brow had smeared slightly at the edges, softening into her skin.
She was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen.
I had thought that before. Many times, in many different lights—firelight, dawn light, the grey flat light of overcast mornings when she sat outside my cave eating whatever I'd set beside her without seeming to notice she was doing it, her attention entirelyon whatever small task she'd given herself. I had thought it every time, and every time it hit me with the same force, like something I couldn't quite brace for no matter how many times it came.
But this was different.
This was my mate. Mine. She chose me.
"Daska?"
"Yes."
“Before we… I need to tell you something.” She looked down at the surface of the water, and I realised she was nervous.
“You can tell me anything,” I said.
“I know, I just… I don’t want to hurt you.”
My heart skipped a beat, but I forced myself to stay calm.
“Ellie, if you need to say something, I promise I’m strong enough to hear it.” I hoped I was, anyway.
She looked up at me, and nodded.
“Last night, Rivik told about Karik, and about mating you. I got angry him.”
“Understandable.”
“No, I mean. I got really angry. I thought he was trying to force me into something, trying to force you, and I… I was confused and I yelled at him, and…”
“And what?”
“And he kissed me.” Hey eyes met mine full on, and I saw the worry in them. I forced down the raging bear inside who wanted to roar at the thought of someone kissing our mate.It’s Rivik,I told myself.He can’t help it. He’s trying to fight the bond too, just like we did at first.
“Ellie-“
“There’s more. I kissed him too. I don’t know why, there something… something between us, and I couldn’t... Urgh!” She made a frustrated sound and I realised she was struggling with trying to explain in a language she only knew the basics of. “Iknow that’s… bad, but I couldn’t… stop, and then he touched me.”
My heart was racing now, though the anger was simmering, I was feeling something else too. Something I didn’t quite want to admit to her yet.
“Rivik touched you?”
She looked down. “Yes.”
“Where?”
Her eyes flew up to mine, and her cheeks turned pink. “Don’t know word.”
“Show me.”
She turned an even darker pink then slowly slid her hand beneath the water. My cock hardened under the surface as I pictured them together, and I licked my lips and took a deep breath.
“Ellie, it’s good. It’s good. You didn’t hurt me. I know you and Rivik feel something. I don’t mind. You are my mate, but if you and Rivik are mates too, that doesn’t hurt me. It just means two of us want to take care of you.”
She opened her eyes and looked at me. We were standing close enough that I could see the individual flecks of colour in her irises, gold and green and brown all tangled together.
